Please read this wonderful, inspiring essay by Simon Baron-Cohen. He is an expert on empathy, which he has studied through examining its absence for people with autism-spectrum disorders.
Here, he applies the lens of empathy to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The two sides look at the same historical events through incompatible lenses. The unthinking reaction of an eye for an eye has simply continued hurting both.
There is a way forward: mutual compassion and understanding. It is the only thing that will work in this conflict — and in all other conflict situations. It is the only approach that will save a future for us, and a future worth living in.
